The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2 brought metal to its soundtrack, highlighting a historical trend that once saw The Silmarillion get made into a whole album. With The Rings of Power season 3 inevitable, it is the right time to dive into the music that surrounds Middle-earth and has helped build it up into the institution that it is today. Starting off the story that would change the world forever across multiple art forms, Allen & Unwin published J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in three parts between 1954 and 1955.

Beginning with The Fellowship of the Ring, the seminal novel introduced Eä, a pioneering high fantasy universe with races from Elves and Men to Dwarves and Hobbits. These unique species were the prototypes for countless fantasy characters in the franchises released in the years to come, including Dungeons & Dragons. The Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies were what propelled Tolkien’s 1960s phenomenon to household-name heights, but metal had caught on right from the start, with a love of Tolkien since the ’60s.

Blind Guardian’s Nightfall In Middle-Earth Tells The Story Of The Silmarillion

Lúthien Dances On The Cover Of Nightfall In Middle-Earth

Custom image by Cristina Trujillo

In 1998, Blind Guardian released their critically acclaimed Silmarillion concept album Nightfall in Middle-Earth. Consequently, the power metal band Blind Guardian can probably lay claim to the best Lord of the Rings metal out there. If Howard Shore’s soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings wasn’t so iconic, it may have paled in comparison to this. Granted, for those who don’t like metal, it won’t magically be more likable than other metal, but for those who are open to it, this varied tour de force tells the story of The Silmarillion with flair and musical ingenuity.

Tolkienian Age
Event Marking The Start
Years
Total Length In Solar Years

Before time
Indeterminate
Indeterminate
Indeterminate

Days before Days
The Ainur entered Eä
1 – 3,500 Valian Years
33,537

Pre-First Age Years of the Trees (Y.T.)
Yavanna created the Two Trees
Y.T. 1 – 1050
10,061

First Age (F.A.)
Elves awoke in Cuiviénen
Y.T. 1050 – Y.T. 1500, F.A. 1 – 590
4,902

Second Age (S.A.)
The War of Wrath ended
S.A. 1 – 3441
3,441

Third Age (T.A.)
The Last Alliance defeated Sauron
T.A. 1 – 3021
3,021

Power metal is uniquely suited to fantasy, and that has been recognized for decades, with multiple bands and albums exploring the rich terrain offered by crossing fantasy worldbuilding with lyrics. The genre is also melodic, dramatic, loud, colorful, and a bit camp – this is no drab black metal. Fantasy metal is its own subgenre, which often interacts with power metal. The Vala Morgoth and Sauron have a tragic, Byronic element to them in these atmospheric voiceovers and highly imaginative interpretations of First Age stories.

The Lord Of The Rings Has A Long Relationship With The Metal Genre

Tolkien Inspired Fantasy Metal

The Lord of the Rings may seem mainstream today, but it has been on the side of underdog movements and art forms for generations. J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings attained some degree of cult status in the 1960s, coming to be associated with a countercultural move towards appreciation of nature. The magic of this era had a profound impact on music and can be caught in lyrics such as those of Led Zeppelin’s “Ramble On.” The song refers to The Lord of the Rings throughout, including oblique mentions of “Gollum and the evil one” and “The darkest depths of Mordor“.

Robert Plant and Jimmy Page wrote “Ramble On,” released on Led Zeppelin II in 1969.

Classic rock and fantasy metal populate music with the kind of lyrical worldbuilding that would make Tolkien proud, often taking influence from the epic poetry Tolkien himself taught and loved. But numerous metal bands of the heavier variety pay homage to their nerdy upbringing and the innate darkness of Middle-earth. Amon Amarth, for example, is a Swedish metal band named after Mordor’s Mount Doom. Lord of the Rings’ cultural symbolism has long pegged it as a point of resistance to problematic authority figures and social systems, which metal is all about.

How The Rings Of Power Honored LOTR’s Metal Connections

Bear McCreary Brought Metal To The Rings of Power Season 2

The Rings of Power tapped Jens of the heavy metal titans Meshuggah for its season 2 soundtrack. In many ways, Bear McCreary is the main character of The Rings of Power. His soaring compositions have intelligently called back Shore’s arrangements for the Jackson movies without being derivative, while Shore himself also contributed to proceedings. McCreary uses Tolkien’s languages in his compositions and reverses certain melodies in line with character arcs, so his apt use of metal for a Troll anthem was no surprise.

The darkness of Sauron’s realm and followers was the perfect sandpit for Meshuggah’s lead vocalist, Jens Kidman. The key member of the Swedish extreme metal band is known for pummelling intensity, making him perfectly positioned to express the searing impact of a confrontation with Sauron’s Second Age forces, led by Adar at the time. One look at McCreary confirms that metal is his ballpark. He cites Gojira and Slipknot as some of his favorite bands, but more to the point, he actually released a brilliant solo album with Kidman and Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor in May 2024.

Like various artists before him, McCreary honors the rich tradition of pounding drums and blistering guitars to convey the inherent fury of Arda Marred.

More Wizard than Man, McCreary was clearly desperatet to write metal for Lord of the Rings, and was finally given the opportunity in the form of Damrod the Troll. McCreary said “When I first glimpsed Damrod, the murderous troll… I knew immediately I had to call Jens” (Revolver). Like various artists before him, McCreary honors the rich tradition of pounding drums and blistering guitars to convey the inherent fury of Arda Marred. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is lucky that McCreary won’t shy away from Lord of the Rings’ rich musical heritage.